Losing Streak
by unknown20troper
Summary: Norm backstory fic. The Darkness destroys Genie World and Norm's lamp falls to Earth. Lots of OCs due to necessity. Pairings will either be absolutely canon or involve OCs. This story is not pairing-focused.
1. Prologue: Start By Darkness

_**Losing Streak **_by _unknown20troper_

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**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents_.

**A/N: **After reading _Norm's Story _by x-Oscena-x, I started wondering what exactly happened in Norm's backstory since she was kind of vague on it, emphasizing emotions over specifics, which was a good stylistic choice for her story, but got me wondering about what exactly the specifics were. Then _Wishology _aired and it contained a new character called The Darkness, which had destroyed **Wonder World **millions of years ago. I then thought of Norm. In the series, the reason for his enslavement was never mentioned. What if The Darkness had caused it? Therefore, I got the idea for this fanfiction. Concrit is appreciated, particularly on characterization. Sorry, but updates for _Unforgettable _might become infrequent! In addition, this story contains lots of OCs.

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**Prolugue: Start By Darkness**

A reddish-purple yet black smoky, cloudy mass began to cover the sky of Genie World, causing an ominous thunder sound. Parts of the ground lifted up and were sucked in.

"What is that thing?"

"It's The Darkness," said a male genie with a dusky blue tail, "It destroyed Wonder World eons ago…"

"It'll destroy Genie World!" concluded another genie rather loudly.

"Hey Percy!" called a female genie with a mild green tail to the dusky blue tailed one, glancing at her teal-blue tailed baby, "Norm's awake. Please, don't cause mass hysteria. I want the little cutie to go back to sleep…"

She then uttered a deluge of baby talk too sweet to believe under the circumstances.

"Yes, Fern," sighed Percy, "Can't wake up the baby, can we?"

"Percy!"

Silvery robots funneled out of The Darkness. The baby, Norm, wondered what exactly they were and smiled, though it could have been gas.

One of the robots shot at a female genie with a yellow tail and green skin. Not all genies had appearances as human-like as Norm and his parents, whose skin were a shade of copper.

They all could tell that The Darkness and its robots were indeed a threat. Though with the destroying Wonder World and the ominous appearance of The Darkness, it was obvious already.

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The Darkness felt resentful. It was searching for a friend, someone to share its lonely existence with, and again the inhabitants panicked. Again. Well, it was scary and dark and destroyed things, but couldn't something like that be nice too? People were too quick to judge, and well, destroying their homes did tend to get them into a tizzy.

The female with the mild green tail struck a battle pose.

So, they were going to battle it. Just like Wonder World and millions of others. Why couldn't they realize it would be a failure?

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Fern proceeded to GONG up various objects and lob them at the robots. She couldn't let them even have a chance to lay a hand on Norm, her cute little son, or Percy, her loving husband. "_**Not my son, you bitch!" **_and all that other idealistic love and protection stuff. However, mere love and magic couldn't stop the robots, even if those were the two most powerful forces in the universe (despite the fact that love was controlled by a pink fairy in a diaper that makes love in the air).

The robots simply sucked up the objects and lobbed them back at the genies. Fern swore loudly, but then remembered that her baby was nearby and started saying stuff like:

"Mommy's sorry, for saying the awful swearword in front of you, isn't she Normy-poo? Who's the cutie, whutiest ever! You are, aren't ya? Don't fear the awful robots and Darkness, Mommy will kill them for you, won't she, won't she?"

It was all very sweet and mushy, and the other genies looked at her in a way that indicated that they believed she was delusional. Babies couldn't understand language well enough to even pick up swearwords, let alone be offended by them.

While she was distracted with reassuring Norm, one of the robots shot her in the back.

The Darkness proceeded to suck up some of the genies. Fern GONGed them back. The robots meanwhile sucked up some of the buildings, plants, and other objects. Genie World was desert-like, so there weren't many plants to suck up.

"Why are you doing this?" yelled Fern angrily.

She had reached her last straw. The Darkness was upsetting her darling baby Normy-poo and she couldn't stand for that. Not on her watch. She also was slightly curious about The Darkness' motivation.

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"WE ARE THE ELIMATORS. WE WANT TO DESTROY YOU!"

Percy thought that the first sentence made the next sentence redundant. What else would Elimators be expected to do? Throw tea parties for their dolls and invite the neighbor's cat?

"DON'T ELIMATE THEM," said The Darkness, "I MADE YOU AND CAN UNMAKE YOU!"

Percy thought that if The Darkness had made them, it shouldn't have named them Elimators if it didn't want them to destroy stuff. Having robots called Elimators would of course cause them to live up to their name.

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However, the Elimators didn't listen or obey and continued to suck things up.

"We are immortal," said Percy in a steady tone, as though lecturing at a respected university, "So, you can't elimate us."

"BUT WE CAN TRAP YOU," said the lead Elimator, as he sucked in part of a genie's tail.

He then shot out weird goo, which formed into millions of lamps and bottles (and other containers).

Each genie was sucked into a different container without mercy, separating countless families and couples, since The Darkness, robots and natural forces all know no mercy. Norm was sucked into a purple lava lamp. His dad was sucked in an oil lamp, his mom in a glass bottle.

Then, the Elimators proceeded to destroy Genie World. The lamps and bottles then fell onto a planet, called Earth, which just happened to be home to several mortal species, including one called humanity…

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**Author's Note: **How was it? This story might take longer to update than the others because the research required. So, press the green button and review! I don't require them, though some would be nice.


	2. Spirit Baby

**Disclaimer: **This is . Therefore, me no owny.

**Author's Note: **This chapter is from Norm's master's third person point of view. I figure that thousands of chapters from Norm's POV, in which _master rubs lamp, master makes wishes, Norm angsts and snarks, Norm is sucked back into lamp _would get boring in no time. So, I decided to write some chapters from Norm's masters' and the other genie's POV. I try my best to make the masters into sympathetic characters in their own right instead of cardboard villains.

The religion of my OCs is fictional and based upon the kind of religion that existed at the time. It has no bearing on how magic actually works in _FOP _or any current religion so don't tell me that the OC's religion contradicts canon or is offensive to any other religions.

Constructive criticism would be appreciated.

Also, because of the Timmy/Trixie ship wars, _Unforgettable _will be put on hold until they dissipate. That means that I will have more time to work on this.

**Chapter 1-Spirit Baby**

Kaif watched as a strange purple object like nothing he'd ever seen before, fall from the sky. It probably was supernatural. Such stuff didn't exist in the mortal world.

The lamp fell to the ground with a thump. It began to rain. Kaif swore under his breath and picked up the object. He absent-mindedly rubbed it.

He was shocked when a baby funneled out in a spiral of smoke. He gasped in fear. The baby had a smoky teal blue tail. He also wore gold bangles. Babies never wore gold bangles. The baby was a spirit but was he good or bad?

His life-mate had a miscarriage several years ago, so maybe the spirit baby was the spirit of her baby.

The spirit baby's magenta eyes roamed about in confusion and curiosity. Had he never left the spirit realm before?

The rain beat down, setting a grim, dark atmosphere. Kaif hated the rain.

"I wish the rain would stop," said Kaif, feeling annoyed.

The spirit baby snapped his fingers.

GONG!

The rain stopped. The baby was a spirit for sure, he thought. Maybe he could revive the baby he lost.

"I wish the baby that died in the seventh full moon cycle in the Jackal Tent was alive again."

The spirit baby snapped his fingers and Kaif dearly hoped for his wish to be granted.

GONG!

His baby appeared, looking cute and so fresh that he could have just been born that day. The spirit baby obviously wasn't his spirit. Kaif cuddled his baby affectionately while the spirit baby looked on. In fact, Kaif thought that if the spirit baby weren't a spirit, that he would describe him as jealous. However, spirits didn't get jealous of human babies, didn't they? Usually when they did, the baby got cursed, according to the legends of his people. Oh no!

Kaif got out some of the food he had brought with him and put it on the ground in front of the spirit baby. The spirit baby looked at him in puzzlement. At least he didn't snap his fingers and curse him or his baby.

Kaif returned to his tribe, jubilant about having his baby back. The spirit baby followed him as though pulled by an invisible string. He entered his tent and excitedly told his life-mate the news.

"Our baby's back!" yelled his life-mate in excitement and fear, "But only evil spirits and supreme spirits can bring people back to life. The shaman and the chief of the tribe will never stand for this. All death occurs for a reason, love. The Creator-spirit ordained it so."

She felt like cuddling the spirit baby, as well as hers, but it was ordained that no one could touch a spirit unless they asked for it or the human was a shaman. Spirits were too holy for mere mortals to touch.

Another tribe member overheard them talking and went to tell the shaman.

"How did your baby come back to life?" asked the shaman.

""I rubbed this," said Kaif, pointing at the purple object, "And this spirit baby came out. I wished for my baby to come back to life and he granted it.'

"Then he's an evil spirit," said the shaman, "And we need to sacrifice your baby to appease the spirits."

"No!"

The shaman placed his baby on the fire and he performed rites around it. Kaif panicked. His baby was about to die!

"I wish my baby was safe and that me, my life-mate and my baby belonged to a different tribe that had never heard of us."

GONG!

**Author's Note: **How was it? Please review!


	3. Bottles, Bazookas, Erasers and Scissors

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _anything_.

**Author's Note: **Concrit welcomed.

**Chapter 2-Bottles, Bazookas, Erasers and Scissors**

Norm looked around his lava lamp. It didn't have anything in it. His stomach rumbled. He wanted a bottle now. Where was his mother? She always came when he was upset, cooing in baby talk. He began to cry, thinking that might cause her to come and give him a bottle.

Instead, large scissors appeared and tried to attack him. He wailed loudly and a super-explosive bazooka appeared. The bazooka blasted into his face and the scissors flew at him in an attempt to hurt him.

His parents still didn't come. What were they thinking? He was in danger here! He burned with fury at them, but he needed them.

"Mama, dada," said Norm desperately, "Mama!"

His parents still didn't come. Where were they? They had always cared for him before, why not now?

Then Norm remembered how snapping his fingers caused the rain to stop, brought the baby back to life and GONGed him back into his lamp. He snapped his fingers, trying to remove the scissors and bazooka.

GONG!

They turned into harmless erasers. Norm smiled in relief –or was it gas?

He snapped his fingers again, now knowing it would work.

GONG!

A beer bottle appeared. Not what he intended.

GONG!

The beer bottle turned into a baby bottle, filled to the brim with milk. Norm drank it and felt content for the first time on this hectic day.

**Author's Note: **How was it? Reviews are appreciated.


	4. The Woes of Parents

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**Author's Note: **Concrit welcomed.

**Chapter 3-The Woes of Parents**

Fern sighed as another mortal rubbed her lamp. Another three wishes to grant. She did not want to spend her immortal life catering to the whims of mortals. She wanted to live in Genie World again, with her husband, Percy, and her son, Norm. She felt sick at the thought of Norm, alone, having to grant the fickle desires of mortals.

"I said: What are you?"

She was broken out of her reverie by her master's voice.

"I'm Fern the swinging genie," said Fern, GONGING up a neon sign that said just that, "Who dares to disturb me?"

"Me," said the human, "Jal."

Her husband would have thought about how humans were so primitive that they only had one-syllable names. Boy, she missed him!

"What's a genie?"

"Not telling," said Fern coyly, "Unfortunately, I'm your slave and grant your wishes so…"

Jal was only a child, she noticed. His hair was straight, unlike Norm's curly hair. Oh, she sure missed Norm!

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Percy found the humans to be very primitive. They made their tents out of animal skins, whereas magical creatures used plastic, stone and metal to make their homes. Humans ate whatever they could find and had to be content with it whereas magical creatures could poof up anything they wanted even if it was processed or from somewhere they never went. Genie kids sometimes GONGed their asparagus into ice cream.

He missed Norm and his wife Fern. He supposed he'd never get to take care of Norm or make love with Fern ever again. He was a genius so surely he could trick a human into setting him free.

However, he had morals, and they said that tricking his master would be wrong. Even if doing that let him see his wife and son again. It would take ages to find them and after finding them, he might not be able to set them free. Better to just stay in his lamp, till the right time. Whenever that was.

"I wish for a sandwich," said his master.

His master had seen him eating one and had decided that he wanted one too. He thought it was food of the spirits or something like that. Percy laughed. Sandwiches and ambrosia weren't the same thing.

GONG!

"You know," said Percy, "Its not lunchtime."

A sandwich appeared in his master's hands and his master bit into it.

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Fern had GONGed up some furniture for her bottle, colored pink and green. She almost GONGed up a cradle for Norm, but she remembered that he wasn't there. He was trapped in another lamp, enslaved by humans for their stupid whims.

It was The Darkness' fault. That foul creature and its Elimators had destroyed Genie World. Fern wanted to destroy it, so it could feel how she felt when it destroyed Genie World and caused them all to be enslaved to humans.

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Percy looked around his lamp resentfully.

GONG!

Dusky blue furniture appeared. He also GONGed up some academic texts. When he was in Genie World, he could talk to people just as intelligent as he was. Now he was enslaved to idiots. How awful was that? He began to read one of the texts, trying to keep his mind off his enslavement and everything he'd lost.

However, he couldn't concentrate. He was too worried about Norm, his darling baby, who his wife spoiled to death. He knew that Norm probably wouldn't cope well with being enslaved and wished he could help him.

Unfortunately, genies couldn't grant their own wishes. Percy cursed that fact with every swearword in every language he knew (which was a lot). After finishing his cursing session, he apologized to all the languages for desecrating them in such a manner. It was just that being enslaved made you want to tell the universe that its mother and father weren't married and that it should perform weird erotic acts, even though it didn't have parents and the weird erotic acts he was suggesting would probably kill everyone on the planet if the universe took his advice.


	5. The Supreme, Ancient Fairy Council

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Fairly Odd Parents, _though I did choose a few names for characters without them and created a few OCs.

**A/N: **Concrit appreciated. Stuff that doesn't make sense in this chapter will probably be answered by the events in later chapters. In addition, this is before fairy godparenting started so don't expect mentions of that yet. Sorry, no Norm in this chapter, no other genies either. I am exploring the effect that Genie World's destruction had on the other magical worlds. Giving it a bit more overall perspective.

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**Chapter 4: The Supreme, Ancient Fairy Council**

Zeroun, the leader of the **Fairy Council**, felt a disturbance in the "fairy force." As though millions had cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced. The Darkness had destroyed another world.

He and the three other Fairy Elders had banished The Darkness from Fairy World eons ago. He hoped that he'd never have to hear of it again after the banishment, but it kept up its destructive rampage. Millions of worlds fell everyday, millions of mortal species went extinct and they could do nothing to stop it.

He wondered what world it was this time. What mortal species went extinct? Was it even a mortal world?

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Lukman, the Fairy Elder responsible for their dealings with other nations, noted that all the trade between Genie World and Fairy World had stopped. In fact, Genie World didn't even seem to exist anymore. That was bad news. Genie World made the best magic carpets and it was a good tourism spot for fairies wanting to experience a bit of magical, foreign culture. Some fairies had even married genies. It was clear to him that Fairy World would panic if they found out that Genie World was destroyed. The **Supreme Fairy Council **couldn't have that. So, he got out his Fairyberry and instant-messaged the other Fairy Elders: Aldan, Kavi and Zeroun.

They appeared in a POOF. Zeroun, the leader of the council; Aldan, the chief Rule Maker and Elder of ceremonies; Kavi, the Elder of magic and memory.

They were going to erase all memories of Genie World from all the inhabitants of Fairy World's memories, excluding themselves. Not with Forgeticin though. Forgeticin couldn't work on areas that size, on that many memories.

They all got out their wands and tapped them on the ground three times, each pointing in a different direction of the compass and chanting about memory and forgetfulness. They all turned around, tapped thrice, still chanting. They repeated the process twice more.

A pink wave spread through Fairy World, leaving slightly amnesiac and woozy fairies in its wake. Where memories of Genie World used to be, other memories hastened in to replace them.

All traces of Genie World disappeared from Fairy World that day.


	6. Norm of Many Forms

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything Butch Hartman does.

**Author's Note:** Concrit welcomed.

**Chapter 5: Norm of Many Forms**

Hirsi, the shaman of the Jackal tribe, wondered what the purple object that mysteriously appeared a few weeks ago was. He believed it was from the spirit world. The spirits probably had a message for the tribe.

Unfortunately, none of his rituals had any effect on the purple object. He was frustrated. He had tried all the rituals he knew, now what could he do?

He touched the object, suspecting it might cause something to happen. Nothing. He rubbed it in frustration.

Wondrous teal blue smoke spiraled out and dispersed, revealing a baby. The baby had a smoky teal-blue tail and golden bangles. Humans did not float or have smoky teal-blue tails. Babies didn't wear golden bangles.

"Oh holy spirit from the realms above, what do you have to say to us mere, puny mortals?"

"Where mama?"

Hirsi looked at the spirit in confusion. Spirits didn't have mamas, unless they were spirits of the dead, that is.

"I don't know where your mother is," said Hirsi, "You came to deliver a message to our tribe."

The spirit baby looked confused. Ah well, thought Hirsi, since the spirits sent him, he'll probably tell me why he came sometime. It occurred to him that if he did a ritual, the spirit might tell him why he came. He put on a ceremonial robe, made from animal fur and started chanting while dancing in each of the four directions: North, South, East, and West.

The spirit's confused look didn't fade.

However, something else happened.

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Norm rather liked the shaman's robe. He wondered what it was made out of. Then he faintly remembered a visit to the Genie World Zoo with his parents. The two thoughts intersected as Norm impulsively snapped his fingers.

GONG!

Below where the spirit baby was previously floating, there was a teal-blue fawn, wearing golden bangles.

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Norm gazed around, wondering what had just happened. Why wasn't he floating? He looked down. Legs with teal-blue fur and pitch-black hooves. A teal-blue furred body, speckled with magenta spots.

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Hirsi wondered if the baby's transformation into a fawn was what it was sent there to do.

"So fawns are important somehow?" asked Hirsi in confusion.

* * *

Norm wondered what would happen if he attempted it again. He snapped his fingers.

GONG!

He became a teal-blue baby rabbit.

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Hirsi wondered if the spirits wanted him to sacrifice a fawn and a rabbit to them.

GONG!

The spirit baby became a rope. Hirsi wondered why the spirits would even care about ropes. Ropes were mortal creations, not spiritual ones.

"So, I have to sacrifice a fawn and a rabbit by tying rope to their necks…"

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Norm was confused. How did becoming a fawn, rabbit and a rope indicate that the human had to sacrifice anything?

GONG!

He became his NORMal genie form.

* * *

Hirsi guessed that meant the message was done and it was time for him to do the sacrifice.

* * *

Norm wondered why on the Earth the human did such strange stuff. The human read weird subtext into everything.

GONG!

A baby bottle appeared and Norm drank from it. He got the hiccups. Just then, a titanic wave of water crashed against the skin tent.

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"The spirits don't want me to sacrifice a fawn and a rabbit using a rope," said Hirsi, "What do they want? I wish I knew!"

GONG!

The room filled with ghosts, each telling him their last requests. He had wished for the spirits to tell him what he wanted and now they were doing so.

'"So that's what you came to tell me?"

"We didn't come to tell you anything," said one of the ghosts, "We came here and started talking about what we want."

"He called us," said another, pointing at Norm, "But what does a baby spirit want with us?"

Norm was bewildered. What made them think that he wanted anything with them? The human wished, he granted.

GONG!

The ghosts disappeared.

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Hirsi figured that the message had finished. What he did he have to do again? The spirits had told him too much and he couldn't remember any of it!

"I wish I knew what I was supposed to do!"

GONG!

Hirsi knew that he had to wish, he had only one left and the spirit was actually a baby genie that granted them.

"I wish I knew what a genie was."

GONG!

Hirsi learned that genies were magical creatures with smoky tails. They used to live in Genie World but The Darkness forced them into various kinds of containers.

The baby genie was sucked back into his lamp. Hirsi had also learned that genies were sucked back into the lamp when their master used up all their three wishes.

Hirsi decided that he'd tell his tribe about genies. However, again, maybe only shamans could know of them. Maybe he wouldn't.

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**Author's Note: **The ghosts aren't an attempt at a _Danny Phantom _crossover. There were ghosts in the _Fairly Odd Parents _episode _Wish Fixers _so ghosts do canonically exist in _Fairly Odd Parents_.


	7. New Shaman

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly OddParents_.

**Author's Note: **Thank you **x-Oscena-x **and **candlelight **for your encouraging reviews!

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**Chapter 6: New Shaman**

Sand whipped through the air, beginning to form a funnel shape. It spun toward a skin tent. It was the tent of Hirsi, shaman of the Jackal tribe. The sand battered against the tent, knocking it down with the full force of it. The sandy wind then picked up a lava lamp, buffeting it into the tent diagonally across from the broken one. Mid-buffet, it broke the shaman's head open. However, the wind buffeted it back onto its previous course, into the tent.

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Reem was shocked to see the purple object. It had to be from the spirits. How could any mortal craft anything that exquisite? The fuchsia goo, the smooth sides and the shiny, dark gray bottom and top. However, it was covered with grains of sand. Reem wondered if the sand was there on purpose, to remind everyone that even the most beautiful things would never be flawless, or was just the result of the sandstorm.

She opted for the latter and started cleaning it.

A teal-blue of smoke came out of the fetish, like a smoke version of the sandstorm. It dissipated, revealing a floating baby at its center. It blinked its magenta eyes in annoyance. If the baby was not a spirit, she would have been absolutely positive that she had interrupted his nap.

Reem winced. She had two toddlers and when they were babies, it was an absolute daymare whenever their naps were interrupted. Still was. If she could ever get them to nap, that was…

The spirit baby started bawling. Spirit wails! Like mortal ones weren't enough! She couldn't hold him and/or put him in a blanket, but she could sing him a lullaby. She sang him her favorite, about how the spirits created the world.

The baby snapped his fingers and was swaddled in blankets. He closed his eyes and went to sleep. Reem picked up the swaddled spirit, careful not to actually touch his holy body, and put it down on the floor. He looked so content there, with his eyes closed. If he weren't a spirit, she would have decided to adopt him. Unfortunately, he was. Creator!

* * *

The village messenger ran to her tent, panting hard.

"The shaman just died," he said, "Head broken open. Need to choose new one…"

Reem looked at the spirit baby that had came from the fetish. The spirits must have sent it because they wanted her life-mate, Reba, to be the next shaman. Certainly not for her to sing lullabies to.

"Oh no," said Reem anxiously, "That's horrible. How will the tribe keep itself safe without the spirits' help? Could you get my life-mate, please?'

"I don't know," replied the messenger, "Yes."

He dashed off, panting hard.

* * *

Reda arrived back from hunting a few moments after being fetched by the messenger.

"What it is, Reem?"

"When the shaman died," she said, pointing at the fetish, "I got this magical object. A baby spirit came out. I think that means you'll be the next shaman, dear."

"That's a great honor," said Reba, "But are you sure I can do it?"

"You'll do fine," said Reem, "The spirits chose you, didn't they?"

"Hopefully," said Reda, "We don't know."

He guessed the spirit would tell him the secret of the becoming-the-shaman ritual, since the previous shaman had expired from a head wound and couldn't tell him.

However, the spirit's undisturbed sleep continued.

"I thought you'd tell me how to become a shaman," growled Reda, "I wish I knew how to become a shaman!"

The spirit baby woke up, wailing.

"I wish you knew how to too, honey," said Reem.

GONG!

"I need to fast for seven days," said Reda, "Also, I need a spirit guide. I assume this spirit baby was sent to be my spirit guide."

"Probably was," said Reem, "I hope the spirits sent him so we could raise him into a great hero."

"Why?" asked Reda , "Aren't our children enough of a handle already?"

"His content expression is cute," said Reem, "I wish you had him too."

GONG!

* * *

Norm could now grant both their wishes.

* * *

"I'm going to begin the ritual now," said Reda, while exiting the room.

"I wish you didn't have to go," said Reem, "I'll miss you!"

GONG!

The messenger ran to their tent, panting like mad.

"Yurem's the new shaman now," he said, "He's been taught for years."

The fetish sucked him in a teal-blue spiral of smoke. The spirit baby whimpered but nothing prevented him from being sucked in.

"His time in the mortal realms is done now, dear," said Reda.

The messanger picked up the object, eager to deliver it to the new shaman.


	8. No Celebration

**Disclaimer: **_Fairly OddParents _is not mine.

**Author's Note: **Anonymous reviewers are allowed, though any spam spent with them will be **deleted**. I don't like spam of any kind. Concrit is welcomed. If you notice that I got any canon or historical facts wrong, please tell me so I can correct them. Also, if _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, please tell me. Knowing that the fic has gone bad is better than not knowing.

**Chapter 7: No Celebration**

It was August 13, 49, 999 BC, Norm's first birthday. Neither Norm nor his masters knew the date or whose birthday it was. However, Norm's parents did. Time didn't have the meaning for magical creatures that it did for humans. Magical creatures could just Time Scooter into the future. While in the future, a Pixie had found out about the Gregorian calendar and told all the other magical creatures how it worked. Pixies were good for that kind of stuff, even if they were the antithesis of what all the other magical creatures represented. Therefore, Norm's parents knew the date and whose birthday it was, even if the birthday boy didn't.

* * *

Fern wished she, Percy and Norm were in Genie World, so they could celebrate Norm's birthday with them, but she instead was enslaved to humans in a stupid container! She knew Norm was suffering - who else could give him a bottle, a bath or sing him to sleep when he needed it?

However, she knew it would be _wrong_ to trick her masters into setting her free and everything she directly asked for, the humans made it into religion-based nonsense. Fern groaned. What was the use of being treated like a religious figure if people garbled up whatever they said to fit their out-there interpretations?

She began to picture the presents she'd give Norm and how happy he'd be to receive them, but she couldn't actually give them to him and _see _his joy.

* * *

Percy also noticed it was Norm's birthday. He wondered if Norm's dumb as flea hit on the head by too much uranium and too many rocks masters had lowered Norm's intelligence at all. When they lived in Genie World, Percy had tried to get Norm to listen to Mozart and Beethoven as he went to sleep, in order to increase his intelligence, but Norm preferred Fern's singing to the great classics of the future. Percy wondered how something from the future could be a classic in the present. That was certainly a paradox.

Percy also mourned the fact he couldn't see if Norm's childhood development matched what it said in academic texts about childhood development. Percy had a feeling that being trapped in a lamp and enslaved to humans would cause Norm's development to negatively deviate from normal child development. Mistrust certainly would win the conflict of Trust vs. Mistrust in Infancy, as postulated in Erikson's stages of psychological development.

Percy knew if he and Fern raised Norm that probably wouldn't happen. He wondered what geographical location they were at. However, Percy guessed that he wouldn't be able to help them without tricking his master and even after almost a year of slavery, he still didn't think it was right. So, he had to spend eternity in his lamp…


	9. Non Existent Curses

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly OddParents_.

**Author's Note: **If you are ignoring me because _Losing Streak _has gone bad, please tell me what I did wrong. I will fix it. Giving me the silent treatment will fix nothing.

**Chapter 8: Non-Existent Curses**

Norm had GONGed up a cradle by accident one day. He wanted something to sleep in. However, he didn't know what a cradle was and it was just dumb luck that one had been GONGed up.

Now, he was fast asleep in the cradle. But not for long.

He felt the pull of a human rubbing his lamp.

He came out in a smoke of teal-blue smoke, feeling very disoriented and annoyed. Not exactly the best combination for a good mood.

* * *

Bilal was shocked to see the spirit come out the lamp. He never thought he'd ever meet a spirit. However, from the irritated expression on the spirit's face, he inferred that the spirit did not come to bless his home. In fact, he supposed it had come to do the contrary.

"I wish the spirits were appeased," said Bilal under his breath, not expecting anything to happen.

* * *

Norm snapped his fingers automatically, without his own consent.

GONG!

All the ghosts in existence felt satisfied, though with what they didn't know.

Norm however, didn't.

* * *

Bilal wondered why the spirit snapping his finger produced a jarring sound. Maybe he was that good at it. On the other hand, he might have just cursed them. Bilal hoped the spirit just was a very good snapper.

Little feet approached that part of the tent.

"Dad, what happened?"

"What was that noise?"

"That was loud! Ow! My ears hurt!"

Bilal didn't feel like telling his kids that he thought he had just been cursed and in fact didn't feel like dealing with them at all the moment.

"I wish I didn't have to deal with my kids at the moment," muttered Bilal, "I don't want them to know that I've just been cursed."

GONG!

Bilal's kids disappeared from the existence.

Bilal looked around, wondering what had happened. He couldn't see his kids or hear them. Maybe they had left during the loud jarring noise.

Then a more horrifying possibility aroused in his mind. Maybe the spirit had magically removed them from existence. Maybe that was the curse that the spirit wanted to put on him. But why?

Bilal didn't know. He just wanted his kids back. And if he couldn't get them back, he wanted to torture the spirit with ten arrows to the nether regions and fire. Lots and lots of fire. And a plague. A very fatal plague that would leave even a spirit bedridden for twelve times seven times five times ten times two moons.

"I wish my kids were back," said Bilal longingly.

GONG!

Bilal's kids appeared. Meanwhile, the evil spirit was sucked back into the cursed purple monstrosity.


	10. The Legend of Sinan Who Discussed Names

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents_.

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Legend of Sinan Who Discussed Names For A Holy Object With Norm the Spirit**

Five years had passed and Norm was now six. He had granted many wishes, from many masters.

* * *

A human rubbed his container. Norm came out in a funnel of teal-blue smoke.

"I'm Norm!" said Norm brightly, "The Spirit!"

Humans always called him a spirit, so he assumed that he was.

* * *

The human gazed at Norm in wonder. A spirit. Spirits created the world and it was a great honor to see them.

* * *

Norm liked it when humans were amazed to see him. However, despite their joy upon seeing him, they did nothing for him and didn't seem to care either way about his needs. They expected him to do stuff for them, not vice versa.

However, Norm knew that human kids weren't treated the same way he was. They were cared for and adults did stuff for them. The six-year old wondered why he was any different. Was that because he was a spirit and the human kids weren't?

"Who are you?"

"I'm Sinan of the Snake tribe," said the human, bowing.

Norm noticed the Snake tribe was not the same tribe as the one he was at before.

"You've just got three wishes!"

Norm had noticed that every time he involuntary snapped his fingers, the humans said, "I wish." He guessed that meant that the GONGing finger snap thing was called a "wish." After three GONGing finger snap things, he was always sucked back into his lamp. Therefore, humans only got three wishes.

"Three wishes?"

"Yeah," said Norm, pointing at the purple object he came out of, "Then I get sucked back into that purple object."

Norm hated getting sucked into the purple object. The purple object was boring. He wondered if it was possible to avoid getting sucked into it. So far, if there was, he hadn't found it.

* * *

The human didn't think spirits used the phrase 'purple object.' He thought spirits would use words infused with more holiness than that.

* * *

Norm wondered why Sinan seemed confused. Sinan did get three wishes, Norm would get sucked back into the purple object, and the purple object was purple and was an object. What could there possibly be to be confused about?

"What will your first wish be?"

"I wish you would call the purple object by a holier name," said Sinan.

Norm was confused. What _kind _of wish was that? Why _did the name_ of the purple object even matter?

GONG!

"Then I get sucked back into the Holy Grail," said Norm.

* * *

Sinan sighed, satisfied. 'Holy Grail' was a good name for a holy object.

* * *

Norm felt confused. Why'd did he call the purple object the 'Holy Grail?' He felt sure that it _wasn't _a holy grail. He felt sure it was called something else.

"Sinan, it's not the Holy Grail," replied Norm, "That name feels wrong for it."

"But it feels right to me," protested Sinan.

"It doesn't feel right to me," replied Norm, "How about you wish that I called it what it is?"

"I wish you called it what it is," said Sinan.

GONG!

"Then I get sucked into my lava lamp," said Norm.

* * *

Sinan thought about it. Lava lamp sounded like a mysterious, holy name for a holy object. He liked it.

* * *

Norm was glad that his master finally was content with the name of the purple object. He also felt happy to know it was called a lava lamp. Whatever a lava lamp was, that is.

* * *

Sinan thought that the other tribe members would be interested in hearing the tale of how he met the spirit. Maybe it would become a legend if he told them. The Legend of Sinan Who Discussed Names For A Holy Object With Norm the Spirit.

"I wish I could tell the other tribe members about my encounter with you," muttered Sinan, forgetting that he still he had one more wish left.

GONG!

Sinan appeared at the fire, at story telling time and told the story of his encounter with the Spirit.

* * *

Norm was sucked back into his lava lamp, which he had just learned was called that.


	11. Whys, Hows and Whats

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**A/N: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. If Norm seems to be better with words than anyone his age would be, his snarkiness and ability at messing up wishes indicates that he probably is better with words than most people his age (whatever it is at any point of _Losing Streak, _other than babyhood, in which he can't talk).

* * *

**Chapter 10: Whys, Hows and Whats**

Even if Norm now knew the name of the purple object, he still didn't like it. It was too constricting, too confining. He guessed that his lava lamp was connected to why he had grant wishes and that escaping it would be hard or impossible.

However, he had figured out that he could GONG up stuff to put in it. Norm had decided that the sound made when granting a wish was called a GONG because that was how it sounded.

He had GONGed up animal fur to sleep on because humans slept on it. He had a firepit for the same reason. Norm had GONGed up some clay statuettes and other pretty things he had seen the humans making, holding and owning. When he was hungry, he GONGed up the meat, roots and berries that he had seen the humans eating. Norm had never met any other spirits so, he didn't know whether they had more than humans had, though the weird cylinder things with tops like nipples and the weird wooden box with bars and soft material indicated that there was a lot more to the world than the humans had discovered.

According to humans, there were more spirits than him and Norm wondered if he'd meet them sometime. He wondered if the other spirits would be kinder to him than the humans were. Humans did say that there were both good and bad spirits, so Norm figured good spirits would be kind to him, though considering that the humans probably meant their definition of good not his, maybe good spirits would act the way humans did.

Norm guessed the spirits had trapped him in his infernal lava lamp and sent him to the mortal world because he was meant to become a hero. The stories told by the humans always tended to go that way. Maybe he just had to endure being trapped until his time for heroing came. If that even was why...

* * *

Norm felt the pull that meant a human was rubbing his lamp. He sighed in relief. No more endless lamp boredom.

"I'm Norm the Spirit!" shouted Norm, "thanks for giving me something to do other than mope in my stupid lava lamp! You get three wishes because I'm forced to do so by my dumb lava lamp!"

The human was a male and seemed to be on a hunting trip.

"Stop complaining about your lamp!" yelled the human, "I am not interested in the complaints of a spiritual brat!"

"_Spiritual _brat," said Norm, "Don't your legends say that the spirits will get revenge on you if you insult them – like say calling them a 'brat?'"

"Sorry, I'll sacrifice a deer to the spirits to appease them," said the human.

"If by sacrifice you mean, burn and pray to the sky then put in a little natural nook, that's not going to appease me."

"But, doesn't that appease all the other spirits?"

Norm recalled the legends and other times that people had sacrificed stuff to the spirits. People did burn food, pray to the sky and put it in a little natural nook and it did seem to appease the spirits. Maybe he was an unusual spirit or not even a spirit at all. Maybe there were more types of magical creatures than spirits. Maybe spirits were just the humans' name for something else and they made up most of what they believed about them. Maybe spirits were an entirely made up concept. Whatever they were, Norm was starting to doubt he actually was one.

"Fine, I suppose that I'm not really a spirit," said Norm, "But I'm not sure what else I could be."

"I don't care about your soul-searching," said the human annoyed, "I wish we were back at my tent. My life-mate expects me home by now."

GONG!

Norm and the human appeared inside the human's tent. His life-mate greeted him with joy and enquired about why the spirit was there. The human explained how the spirit had said he wasn't, though he at first believed he was.

"What? But there aren't any other kinds of mystical beings! That's heresy!"

"I'm the mystical being here," said Norm, "I exist. My existence shouldn't be heresy and if it is, I won't kill myself just because you guys say I'm heresy."

"I wish I had caught more animals, and I wish that the animal fur was more comfortable," said the man in a rush, trying to get rid of Norm before the shaman found out about his heresy.

"Wow, you're quick!"

GONG!

More animals appeared in the tent.

GONG!

More berries appeared, both in Norm's lamp and in the human's tent.

GONG!

The animal fur became more comfortable both in the tent and Norm's lamp.

* * *

Norm was sucked into it and when he was fully sucked in, the man threw the lamp out of his tent and in front of someone else's tent.


	12. Not Spirit

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**A/N: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Not Spirit**

"I'm the Norm the I-don't-know-but-I'm-not-a-spirit!" shouted Norm, "I have to grant your wishes, but trust me, I don't want too."

The human looked bewildered and fearful. Obviously, no human had ever heard of any mystical creatures other than spirits before.

"Honest," continued Norm, "I think."

* * *

Yurem, the human that had rubbed the not-spirit's lamp, thought:

A) The not-spirit saying, "I think" nullified it saying, "honest."

B) Maybe, he had eaten bad berries and was just hallucinating.

C) The existence of mystical creatures other than spirits was heresy.

D) The shaman would need to know about it.

So, he muttered, "I wish the shaman was here," forgetting what the not-spirit had said about how he granted wishes.

GONG!

The shaman appeared. He looked at the not-spirit with shock, mistaking it for a spirit. When he voiced that out loud, the not-spirit was quick to tell him that he was not a spirit.

* * *

"I'm not a spirit," said Norm in frustration, "why the heck does everyone forget that? Do you I act like a holy spirit of holy spirit-ness? Do I look like one?"

"You are better with words than my six year-old," replied the human that rubbed his lamp, "you float, you have a tail, you wear gold bangles. Do you need any more evidence?"

"I don't respond to sacrifices the way that people say spirits do," said Norm, "truth is, I don't get the point."

"Spirits like sacrifices," replied the shaman.

"I'd like them better if you actually sacrificed something useful, in a sensible way," replied Norm, "exorcise me. Who knows, maybe you'll set me free! That would be great."

* * *

Yurem was beginning to feel tired of the debate with the six year-old not-spirit. Meanwhile the shaman attempted an exorcising ritual, which failed.

* * *

"See! I'm not a spirit!" shouted Norm, "stop acting like idiots and set me free!"

* * *

The shaman then came upon the possibility that the not-spirit was actually a powerful malevolent spirit, so powerful that transcended the rules of other spirits, who had decided that he liked the form of a six year-old child. Setting him free would be a bad thing indeed, he thought.

* * *

"I wish you'd just go back in your lamp and stop bugging us," said Yurem impatiently, "now!"

GONG!

Norm was sucked into his lamp, one wish early.

* * *

The shaman confiscated the object, so no one else would encounter the malevolent spirit. He also decided to tell the story to the rest of the tribe. They probably needed to know of the powerful, malevolent spirit that didn't accept ritual sacrifices. Such things were definitely dangerous, all right. People would need warning about them, so they could attempt to protect themselves – if they could.


	13. Seeing Someone Again

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**A/N: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Seeing Someone Again**

The shaman lost the lamp before he could confiscate it. He wondered where he was, but didn't manage to find it. However, that didn't mean that anyone else couldn't…

* * *

Norm, having nothing to do in his lamp, began to think about how the human had reacted to learning that he wasn't a spirit. They had been confused and scared, and wished for a shaman to exorcise him. Boy, Norm didn't want that to happen again!

He'd just say his name, without touching upon the matter of his species, unless he had a good reason to do so. Then, humans cold assume he was anything they wanted him to be. Maybe, if he knew what exact species he actually was, he'd reconsider, but for now, this would work fine.

* * *

A human rubbed his lamp.

Norm sighed in relief. Finally, something even slightly exciting – even if the humans did be mean to him, they were something to do – to do!

"I'm Norm! I have to grant your wishes. At least, doing that is more interesting than staying in my lava lamp all day."

"What's a lava lamp?"

"Uh, the thing you just rubbed," said Norm with a childish groan.

"Lava lamps come from the spirits, don't they?"

"Yes," replied Norm, trying not to cause any heresy.

* * *

Alawi, the person that had rubbed the lava lamp, wondered if the shaman needed to know about the lava lamp.

"Are lava lamps dangerous items?"

"Dangerously boring to be inside, yes," replied Norm.

"You didn't answer my question," replied Alawi, sounding irritated.

* * *

"They aren't dangerous to humans, if that is what you want to know," replied Norm. "Though again, I don't know a lot about this thing, so who knows? They could be."

"I wish the shaman was here."

Norm snapped his fingers, and hoped that he was with a different tribe than he was before.

GONG!

He wasn't.

* * *

"Oh, no," said the shaman. "The malevolent spirit is back."

Norm couldn't believe his bad luck. Not at all.

"I'm not malevolent and I'm not a spirit," replied Norm angrily.

Norm felt like kicking himself, despite the fact that he didn't have legs. Hadn't he just decided not to reveal that he wasn't a spirit several minutes ago? Crud.

"Spirits are the only mystical beings in existence," said both the shaman and his master. "To say otherwise would be heresy."

"Well, I'm glad you two agree," said Norm sarcastically.

"I wish you were back in your lava lamp," said Norm's master.

Norm was sucked into his lava lamp, and the shaman went to confiscate it again.

* * *

He hoped that the lamp would stay confiscated this time. He figured that he had to tell the tribe about the malevolent spirit, so if any of them accidentally found it, they would know not to listen to it, agree it to anything it said or anger it.


	14. Tricks and Teeth

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**A/N: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Tricks and Teeth**

The shaman told the tribe of the malevolent spirit, showing them the lamp it was trapped in, so they would know precisely what it looked like. However, midway through the explanation, he dropped it.

* * *

Inside the lamp, Norm winced. Hitting the ground like that hurt, especially when coupled with someone lecturing about how "malevolent" he was when really Norm did not see how he was malevolent in the least. The humans were malevolent. They used him for their own ends. He didn't use them for his own ends. Though again, maybe he could…

Norm grinned. Now that was an idea!

He didn't know how to use it, but still…

Norm glanced at the floor of his lamp. Apparently, the drop had dislodged one of his teeth. He rolled his eyes. That was just another reason to be mad at the humans. Norm hoped they wouldn't drop it again.

He picked up the tooth, figuring that maybe he could magically put it back in later.

Outside the lamp, a tribe member accidentally rubbed it.

"I'm Norm, and I'm not malevolent," said Norm as he swirled out of the lamp. "Honest!"

* * *

The human, who was named Elam, spotted the tooth that the malevolent spirit was holding. He wondered whose tooth it was. If it was a human's tooth, the spirit was probably controlling that human. If it was the spirit's tooth, Elam guessed that the shaman could probably use it to control the malevolent spirit. Elam preferred option two. If it were option one, the tribe would probably be in deep trouble.

"Why are you staring at my tooth like that? What's your problem?" asked the malevolent spirit with annoyance.

Elam smiled. It was the spirit's tooth!

"Give me that!"

"Sorry, but no," replied the spirit. "You have to wish for it. Why do you want my tooth anyway?"

"I wish I had your tooth."

* * *

Norm grinned. The human wanted his teeth, did he? Well, he could do that.

GONG!

His tooth appeared in the human's mouth. Norm laughed.

* * *

The shaman glared at the malevolent spirit. Now, he had concrete proof that the spirit was indeed malevolent.

* * *

Norm saw the look in the shaman's eye and winced. He could tell that now the shaman would have no qualms about ruining his reputation. Not that he had any qualms about ruining Norm's reputation before, but he now knew he was right.

Norm decided that he'd have to be subtler with his next tricks, or do them somewhere that he didn't have a reputation. The second thing wasn't under his control. He'd have to go with the first.

Maybe the second could be under his control though, if he subtly tricked the human into wishing his lamp belonged to another tribe.

"Wish the malevolent spirit back into his lamp before he harms us even more," commanded the shaman.

Norm face-palmed. Was one tooth "harm?"

"I wish your tooth was out of my mouth," said the human that had rubbed his lamp.

GONG!

Norm's tooth popped out of the human's mouth and under the desert sands.

"Wish granted," he said. "What next?"

"I wish you were back in your lamp."

GONG!

Norm was sucked back into his lamp.


	15. There Are Others

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**A/N: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 14: There Are Others**

The story of the malevolent spirit got entrenched into the tribe's mythology. The shaman's tent fell on him, killing him. A human took the lamp from the tent and rubbed it. Only once the spirit had come out, he remembered the story, and feared the spirit. One could probably guess what would happen next. Four years later, the spirit was no longer the only one in town.

* * *

Norm, the ten year-old not-spirit, groaned. Another human had rubbed his lamp. He was going to be persecuted again. Yawn! Being persecuted would sound exciting and dangerous if this was the first time it happened, but after thousands of times, it was totally boring and safe.

Norm got the usual spirit-overreaction. The human then recognized him from the legend and the overreaction turned into a rant about how malevolent he was. Groan, yawn. Why did most – or all – humans follow the exact same formula?

He glanced around, looking for something actually interesting to occupy his short attention span with.

He was not disappointed. A man, whose name Norm knew was Karam, had came back from hunting, holding a lamp that looked a lot like his, and a big catch. Norm watched Karam look over both the catch and the lamp. Karam rubbed the lamp idly, since he had glanced around to check if Norm the Malevolent Spirit had came out of his lamp and the results had came back positive.

Norm continued to watch. Dark orange smoke spiraled out of the lamp in a way that reminded him of his teal blue smoke. The smoke cleared, showing a man with a dark orange tail, wearing clothes that looked more elaborate and smoother than those worn by the humans. The man's skin was a light pinkish-white that Norm had never associated with skin before.

Norm grinned. The man was of his kind, no doubt – whatever his kind was.

"I'm Torvald the Genie!" announced the man, GONGing up some weird, glowing, floating things.

Genie? What was a genie?

Norm GONGed beside Torvald.

* * *

Torvald glanced around nervously. What was the other GONG about?

He saw the ten year-old and groaned. There was another genie in the area?

"What's a genie?" whispered the ten year-old into his ear.

He sighed in relief. The ten year-old was smart enough not to shout his query at the entire world.

GONG!

They both appeared in Torvald's yellow lava lamp. The ten year-old gazed around in a combination of confusion and amazement. Torvald supposed that the child had never seen comfortable furniture, TVs, computers, or books before. The child was born in the year of the Darkness after all, probably before it came.

"Genies are magical creatures."

"Creature?" asked the ten year-old in a mutter. "I'm just a creature? At least the humans think I'm something."

Torvald brought his hand onto his face and slapped it. Kids these days! What were genie kids taught these days?

"No, you aren't just a creature," he replied. "That's just what magical living things are called. Magical creatures."

"Okay?" replied the child, still feeling unsure.

"Yes. Other types of magical creatures are: fairies, Pixies, Anti-Fairies, elves, unicorns, Bigfoot, vampires, dragons, Lawn Gnomes…"

The child looked overwhelmed by the information. Torvald continued on talking.

"Genies used to live in Genie World."

"What happened?"

"The Darkness, that is the last I remember of Genie World. Just the Darkness."

"Darkness?"

"The Darkness."

"Okay?"

"Yes. I don't know much about the Darkness, so I won't try to explain it to you. It is why we're trapped in lamps and why we have to grant three wishes to any human that rubs our lamp, deserving or not. We never had to before."

"So, that means that a genie could escape their lamp if they wanted to?" asked the child curiously.

"Keep dreaming, little dreamer," replied Torvald, sounding sarcastically bitter. "I've tried, but I'm not free."

Torvald GONGed the young genie out of his lamp. The mere presence of the child played too hard on his uncertainties, fears, and locked-away wants. Not the type of thing that he wanted to be with him for any longer than the child was already.


	16. Deliberate Wishing

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**A/N: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Deliberate Wishing**

Norm groaned as another master rubbed his lamp. He supposed that he'd be mistaken for a spirit again, even though he was a genie, not a spirit. However, he could fix that!

He spiraled out of the lamp. Once the smoke cleared, he exclaimed:

"I'm Norm the Genie! I'm not a spirit, got it?"

The human started talking about heresy, the malevolent spirit, and impossibility. Norm yawned. Why couldn't humans get that he was possible, dang it?

"Genies are magical creatures," replied Norm to the human's rambling. "We're trapped in lamps, and we have to grant three wishes to whoever rubs them."

* * *

Raed, the man that had rubbed the object, began to think that Norm was telling the truth. He did seem to know what he was talking about. If this was a hoax, it was probably one of the stupidest, most useless hoaxes since Creation. Raed doubted anyone was that stupid.

Wishes? Those would be useful.

"I believe you."

* * *

Norm was thrilled. Finally, someone believed him. Maybe, they'd be nice to him – for once!

"You do?" asked Norm eagerly, and then finished recklessly. "Will you set me free?"

"Free?" asked his master mockingly. "You said I could have three wishes. I want those wishes."

"What?!" shouted Norm, feeling confused.

"Yes, Norm," replied his master. "The spirits obviously put you, genies, here to grant the wishes of humans."

"No, the Darkness destroyed Genie World," replied Norm. "Your spirits don't exist obviously, since you keep mistaking me for one. Or maybe you haven't found them yet?"

"First, I don't think your logic is valid. Second, has it occurred to you that the Darkness might be a spirit?"

"No," admitted Norm. "It hasn't."

"Exactly," replied his master. "First, I'll wish for something simple, to make certain that you're actually what you say you are. I wish I had an arrow."

"Don't worry," replied Norm mockingly. "I'm telling the truth. But, since you wished for it…"

GONG!

An arrow appeared. Norm considering GONGing it up broken, but guessed that would cause his master to wonder if it was possible to wish to punish him. He didn't want that on his master's mind.

* * *

Raed grinned. The genie had granted his wish perfectly. The spirits had gave him such a great gift. He wondered what else it could do.

"I wish it would start raining," said Raed.

* * *

Norm wondered what his master would gain from a rainstorm, and then recalled that he was in a desert.

GONG!

Rain fell from the sky. Norm groaned. His furs always felt uncomfortable in the rain. Maybe, he needed new clothes. Like those that the other genie was wearing.

"Can I wish for more wishes?"

"I don't know," replied Norm. "I don't think so."

"Well then, I wish I had three wishes."

GONG!

Norm was shocked. The human could actually wish for three wishes.

* * *

After lots of wishes, Norm's master decided that he had enough, and stopped wishing for three wishes. Norm was sucked back into his lamp, since his master thought that other humans should have a chance at him too.

* * *

Norm couldn't believe that revealing his true species to his master didn't help. Alright, he could. Humans were capable of such cruelty, Norm knew. He wondered if he should reveal his species to his next master. Doing so had only invited exploitation. Yet, "Norm the Genie" had a better sound to it than "Norm the Spirit." Getting exploited was new, at least, whereas being persecuted was old news.

Also, not all humans could be that bad. Surely, there had to be one nice one, right?

Norm didn't entirely believe that, but it helped. He would tell his next master of his species. If worst came to worst, he was sure that he could come up with another plan. Hopefully!


	17. Spirit Art & Observation Failure

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Spirit Art and Observation Failure**

After several masters had learned of his species and exploited him, thought he was a heretic, or called him an evil spirit, Norm felt like he needed a plan. He didn't want to spend his entire life being exploited, or treated like an evil spirit by humans.

Norm tried to think of a plan, but he had trouble doing so, since he didn't actually know much about the humans, when it really came down to it. Whenever they rubbed his lamp, he automatically tuned out, or defied them.

If he wanted to learn more about the humans, Norm supposed he had to focus better, and not defy them every time they said something offensive to him. Now, that would be hard!

However, Norm was sure he could do it.

A human rubbed his lamp. The ten year-old spiraled out.

"I am Norm the Spirit," said Norm in a fake cute tone. "I can grant your wishes."

The human started freaking out about evil spirits, and one malevolent spirit in particular. Norm groaned, and yawned. That human was just the same as the rest of them, so was it really worth it to observe their behavior? Norm reminded himself of the freedom that genies used to have. Yeah, it was.

"I will not have any wishes from a malevolent spirit."

"I'm not malevolent," said Norm in a fake innocent, pathetic tone.

He didn't like sounding like a pathetic, young child, but he figured that using that tone would cause the human to pity him, or at least not find him malevolent.

"You're cute," replied the human.

Norm tried to give himself the young-child-blush look. He didn't want his masters to know that he was ten, and devious. That would just cause trouble.

"I'm cute?" asked Norm in a childish voice, trying to make them think that he didn't already know that.

"Yes," replied the human.

Norm internally groaned. This sounded like a good time for a devious plan, but he didn't know enough the human culture to execute one and have it succeed. Becoming friends with the human didn't occur to him, since he had never met a human that liked him before, and didn't understand why such an emotion existed. Every time he had felt anything close to that emotion, he became easier to exploit, or hurt. Norm didn't want to make exploitation, or harm to happen any quicker than it usually.

"Just make your three wishes," Norm muttered under his breath.

Then, Norm considered that the human was feeling the emotion herself, so he could exploit her easier.

"If you wish me free, I'll get you something that looks exactly like me from the Spirit World," he said.

"No," replied his master. "I want to make statues of you, and cave paintings."

Norm groaned. His master wanted to do Norm art. Perfect, just perfect, in the sarcasm-rich version of the word.

"I wish you were back in your lamp, until I have time to make a statue of you, or draw you."

Norm groaned.

GONG!

Norm looked around his lamp. He hadn't GONGed any of the genie stuff that he had seen in Torvald's lamp. Now would be a good time to do so, he figured.

GONG!

His sleeping furs turned into the comfy stuff in Torvald's lamp. His clothes changed from furs to whatever Torvald's clothes were. Then, Norm GONGed up the weird black box that he had seen there.

He grinned, and snuggled into his new sleeping thing. He needed a decent rest so he could observe the humans better.

His master awaked Norm from his nap. Norm groaned. Art time, was it?

Yes, it was. His master used to the wishes to get Norm to pose for her, after Norm told her that she could wish for three more wishes. He didn't want her to spend all her wishes on three poses, and have to go through the tedious process of getting another master. Norm wondered why she couldn't just ask him to pose for her.

His master showed the paintings, and statues to the tribe. Norm groaned. He doubted that his reputation as a malevolent spirit would cause them to be well received.

The shaman saw the art, and asked to see the malevolent spirit that inspired it.

Norm's master called him, and he GONGed himself to her side.

"Wish the spirit back into its lamp, and give it to me," said the shaman.

"Yes, shaman," replied Norm's master. "I wish you were back in your lamp, and that I wasn't your master anymore."

Norm groaned.

GONG!

He was sucked into his lamp.

Norm judged that day as a failure. He didn't learn anything about the culture of the humans, other than that they hated him a lot. Norm wasn't too worried about that; it was mutual after all.

He'd try to learn about humanity later, and when he had learned enough, he'd trick them into setting him free. That was the only way they'd do so, after all.


	18. Observation

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Observation**

Norm's next attempt at observation went much better than his previous one. His master didn't have good sight, and therefore didn't see him well enough to recognize him as the "malevolent spirit."

His second wish for good sight however, so Norm's human observation time ended when his master realized, with his new sight, that Norm was the "malevolent spirit" and wished him back into his lamp.

Norm groaned. Typical. Whenever he had any kind of hope or success, something always thwarted it? If there were spirits, he wondered, did they have a grudge on him for stealing their worshippers? If so, Norm would be entirely willing to give them back to the spirits, since he didn't steal them on purpose.

Well, Norm supposed, he wouldn't be taking their hypothetical glory if the humans did not mistake him, a genie, for them.

Norm's next master was one of the wish-away-the-"spirit"-fast-so-I-don't-get-in-trouble types, so Norm didn't learn much there. However, he did begin to realize that it was a very common type of master in this society, which could actually be the entire world, but again, he wasn't sure about whether it was or not.

Norm knew that he wasn't a spirit, or heretical, so those masters always gave him a bad impression of humanity's listening skills, since he had always told them that he was not a spirit, he was a genie.

Next, he got an exploit-the-genie type. Those types were a gigantic pain in the butt since they always asked if they could wish for more wishes when they ran out, and didn't have any respect for him. At least the masters that thought he was an evil spirit had some kind of respect for him, even if Norm didn't like being called a fearful, malevolent spirit, that did mean people paid attention to him.

Norm wondered if he could use that to escape his lamp. Probably not, since who would want a malevolent spirit flying around freely? Norm bet that the answer was nobody, at least nobody sane.

The next master he got was an exploit-the-genie-only-in-kookier-ways type. Norm had no clue how one was supposed to learn anything about them that was concrete enough to come up with a plan that would work on any of them. Every other type was easy, but this one wasn't.

However, Norm did think he could make a plan to exploit an individual one if he knew them well enough. However, Norm didn't know anyone that well. The most he ever knew of someone was their three wishes, what they looked like, their gender, their name, and what type of master they were. Sometimes he knew less.

Any plan involving detailed knowledge of someone, or fake friendship was out then. Norm groaned.

After all this observing, he sure knew one thing: tricking his master into setting him free would be harder than he thought.


	19. First Escape Attempt

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 18: First Escape Attempt**

Norm had spent a year watching the humans. He now knew lots about their culture and general behavior. Enough to trick them? Of that Norm wasn't sure, but was impatient to escape, and thought that a year was a reasonable amount of watching.

He felt the unmistakable feeling of a human rubbing his lamp, and smiled. Time to trick himself free!

He funneled out of his lamp in his most incredible smoke spiral yet, since he was sure it would also be his last.

The human called him a malevolent spirit, and screamed in terror a few times. Norm smiled. This type of master was exactly what he was aiming for.

"Yes, I am Norm the Malevolent Spirit!" shouted Norm in his most impressive voice. "Quiver mortal, because Norm is out, and will kill you all!"

Norm smiled. The mortal was indeed quivering. Convincing the mortal to set him free would be a snap!

"However," said Norm, pausing for a few seconds. "If you wish me free from this accursed lava lamp, you'll be spared."

Norm expected his master to wish him free. Yet, no wish came.

"You're mine, spirit," replied the human. "You won't kill anyone unless I command you too."

Norm wondered how the human knew that. He supposed that he had influenced their mythology a bit.

"Or will I?" asked Norm, aiming fire at a random tent.

The fire was for show, and Norm would put it out if needed. He didn't actually want to kill anybody. Yet.

The human seemed to be mentally debating about whether to set him free or not.

"I own you," said his master. "Anything you do, I can unwish. I wish the fire was out."

Norm groaned. Why'd did he get a smart master? His plan would do nothing if his master were smart enough to foil it.

GONG!

The fire went out. His master smiled.

Norm groaned. He suspected that big punishment was coming up next. A year wasn't enough time to come up with a plan to escape his lava lamp, as this example proved.

"Next, I wish you were back in your lamp, and that I didn't own you anymore. You are not getting your freedom."

GONG!

Norm funneled back into his lamp.

He looked around, supposing that he had to get used to it, since one year wasn't enough time to learn enough to escape his lamp. He wondered if two would be enough then?

He supposed so, since he didn't want to wait any longer to escape. If escaping took more than, say, ten years, Norm was sure that he'd be super-ticked, since that would mean that he wasted his childhood trapped in his lamp, granting the wishes of idiots. Also, Norm wasn't sure how long his life was, so he wondered if he didn't manage to escape by the age of sixty, would he have wasted his life being owned by idiots, or was his life longer than a human's?

Norm hoped genies had longer lives than humans. If they did, once he was free, he could make up for the years that he had lost because of the humans. If they didn't, Norm was sure that he would be angry at whoever made the world.

He turned on the black box thing, with the long rectangle thing, hoping to watch some events that weren't happening to him, "TV" as the Events That Weren't Happening To Him called it. Norm wondered what a "T", and "V" were, why the screen sometimes showed weird symbols like that in boxes, and why the long rectangle thing had the symbols on it too.

He supposed that he'd solve that mystery later, once he was free.

Norm supposed that there would be lots of stuff for him to find out, do, and watch once he was free, and he couldn't wait!

Just two more years, he told himself, just two more years. Hopefully.


	20. Observing a Kid Master

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 19: Observing a Kid Master**

Norm was losing his patience with watching and waiting, and the first year wasn't even over yet. He had learned new stuff about the humans, and doubted that he'd ever learn any more, if humanity continued acting the way it did.

Norm made cave paintings of everything he had learned on the wall of his lamp. He wondered if that would make them lava lamp paintings, instead of cave paintings.

He needed to occupy himself with such thoughts, since if he didn't, he was sure that he would go insane from the boredom.

* * *

Another human rubbed his lamp, and Norm groaned. Why couldn't the humans let him get a decent night's sleep? Why would they be awake at night anyway?

Norm funneled out of the lamp, and looked around. His master was a kid that had awoken after his bedtime. He groaned.

"What is it?"

The kid started screaming about the malevolent spirit. Norm groaned. So, the kid was perfectly fine with the dark, scary night, but a harmless genie would get him in hysterics.

Norm wondered why he didn't think of himself as a kid too. The kid was only two years younger than him after all. He supposed that was because no one had ever treated him like a kid; never let him be one.

Well, supposed Norm, once he was free, that wouldn't be a problem, would it? He could treat himself like a kid – in a good way – if he wanted to, once he was free.

Norm dragged his attention back to the kid. He didn't have many kid masters, so he didn't know much about them (despite being one, kinda), but he figured that since kids were younger than adults, they'd know less, and be easier to trick.

"Hi," said Norm in a childish voice. "I'm Norm. What's your name?"

"Nasli," replied the kid.

Norm remembered his previous observations of human kids. They often made friends this way. He wondered if the kid would befriend him. Norm shook that thought out of his head as soon as he thought it. Feeling such feelings would only get him in trouble.

Norm wasn't sure how to trick a kid. What would one want?

He was a kid, so he should know, but he didn't.

The kid glanced at him in a suspicious, yet not cynical way. Norm groaned. Kids did it too.

He noticed that the sun was rising. Norm groaned. The kid's parents would probably wake up soon, and the kid would be in double trouble. That would probably cause him to be in trouble too, since had observed that people didn't like it when their kids were in danger, and according to the warped logic of humanity, he was dangerous. Which meant that no one cared when he was in danger. Maybe his parents would, but he had never met them, never heard of them. Maybe genies had no parents.

Norm decided to mull over that issue later, when he was once again bored to ever-living death in his lamp.

Norm heard some noise in the tent beside him. Oh great. The kid's parents were waking up.

The mother woke up first. She noticed Norm as soon as she left the tent, and Norm said a word that would get a kid in trouble if they said it.

However, Norm knew that he just got in trouble for existing, so swearing certainly wouldn't make anything worse for him.

The kid did a token protest against dismissing him, but eventually agreed to the demand.

GONG!

Norm was sucked back into his lamp.

* * *

He groaned. Kids, adults, they all were human, and they all were the same. He couldn't expect any better just because his master was either older or younger than most masters. All humans were equally bad.

Norm wondered if that principle applied to genies. Would all of them be nice and kind? Would they all be malevolent? Or were they're both kinds?

He hoped they'd all be nice to him, but was too cynical to actually believe it.


	21. Trying to Trick

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Trying to Trick**

Norm waited excitedly for a human to rub his lamp. His days of watching were over, and the genie was sure that he knew enough to trick himself out of the lamp. However, no one rubbed with lamp.

Norm groaned, rolled his eyes, and yawned. Waiting for a human to rub his lamp was bo-ring.

Several minutes later, a human rubbed his lamp.

Norm funneled out of the lamp in a humongous cloud of teal blue smoke, impatience making it extra-dramatic.

The human started to panic about malevolent spirits. Norm groaned, since that was typical human behavior. However, he noticed that this human was milder about it than most. Norm wondered why.

He had no clue whether he was in a different tribe, since he had never really noticed the scenery, though doing that could curb his boredom. Norm groaned. As if! Wherever-he-was was a practically blank spread of sand. He figured that would probably be even less entertaining to look at.

Norm pulled his mind back from his thoughts about the boredom of blankness. Once he was free, he'd never have to worry about that again, he reminded himself.

"I'm Norm the Genie!"

"What's a genie?" asked the human.

Norm groaned. He had kind of expected that, though he had thought that he had passed into the tribe's legends. At least as a malevolent spirit. However, this human acted as though he had never heard of him.

The human seemed to be in his thirties, so Norm was sure that he had existed when he became known as a malevolent spirit.

Norm wondered if he could use the human's lack of knowledge to his advantage. He figured that he could. However, he wasn't sure how.

He decided just to go with the flow.

"Genies are magical creatures," said Norm.

"Creatures?" asked the human. "Like deer, and rabbits?"

Norm rolled his eyes. He was not a deer, or a rabbit – though he could turn into one if he wanted to, which he didn't.

"No, I'm not a deer, or a rabbit. I'm not like a deer, or rabbit, though I like deer, and rabbits," replied Norm.

"Then I don't think you're a creature," replied the human.

Norm wasn't sure what to say to that. However, he figured that he could use it to make a plan.

"Creature?" asked Norm. "I didn't mean to say that. I meant magical …er… creator."

"You're the Creator?" asked the human, bowing to him.

Norm grinned. He liked the attention, since it wasn't negative like he usually got. However, Norm wasn't sure how to use the human's assumption about him to aid in tricking him. However, he was sure that he could improvise something up.

* * *

Zeroun, the leader of the Fairy Council, had noticed the fallen genie seven years ago. He was thrilled to find out that the genie species wasn't trapped in the Darkness. However, he had discovered that they were doomed to what could possibly be a worse fate: accidental enslavement at the hands of humans.

When he found the genie, the genie was six. He thought he was a spirit, and called himself "Norm the Spirit."

Zeroun decided to watch the genie, and told the rest of the Council about it, and to find other genies so they could be watched too.

Kavi was the next member to find a genie. His genie was a blonde six year-old female that didn't know their name, and constantly changed it, looking fruitlessly for the right one. She was so occupied with trying to find the perfect name for herself that the matter of her species never entered the picture for her.

The third member to find a genie was Aldan. His genie was a brunet fifteen year-old male genie. That genie remembered Genie World, faintly, and wanted it back. He expressed that desire in an angsty fashion that would become cliché to humanity after a few millenniums of enduring it in their media. However, the fifteen year-old didn't know that.

Lukman was the last one to find a genie to watch. His was a seven year-old female with fiery auburn hair – and an equally fiery temper. Her name was Calais.

All of them had sometimes caused some trouble to humanity, but never so bad that they'd consider calling Fairy Court for any of them. However, Zeroun noticed that Norm seemed to have a plan. How? Norm had attempted to trick his master once, when it failed, he didn't do anything for five years, then did tried to trick another master.

That seemed like a plan to Zeroun. In addition, Norm now seemed to be trying to trick his master again. He was saying that he was the Creator, despite the fact that he wasn't. Zeroun guessed that might end up messing up human society if they began to believe such notions. Norm was overdue for a trial in Fairy Court.

He was too young to be put in jail, but Zeroun guessed that getting tried in Fairy Court might discourage him from trying such things again.

* * *

Norm felt a strange feeling, heard a GONG, and appeared somewhere that didn't resemble anywhere else that he had been before. His master appeared beside him, and looked around in equal confusion. Norm wondered if lying about GONGing them there would aid his plan. Probably not.

He spotted hundreds of mini humans, holding black sticks with stars on them, and with golden objects floating above their heads. He wondered what they were.

What everything was.


	22. Fairy? Court?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts.

* * *

**Chapter 21: Fairy? Court?**

"Huh? Where am I?" asked Norm, feeling very confused.

"Fairy Court," replied a miniature human, pointing at a strange thing with weird symbols on it, ones similar to the ones on his TV.

Norm wondered if the weird symbols on the thing meant 'Fairy Court'. He figured they probably did. However, that only gave him another thing to wonder about: what was a "Fairy", and what was a "Court?"

He wondered if the mini-human would answer him if he asked. However, he supposed not.

His master seemed to share his confusion, taking it to a further extent than he did.

The mini-human at the front hit the object in front of him with a stick, creating an unstick-like noise.

"Order! Order!"

Norm wondered why the mini-human was asking for everything to be organized. It looked quite organized already. He also considering that the mini-human was asking for orders, but he doubted that too.

"The case of humanity vs. Norm the Genie is now in session," said the mini-human, pausing in confusion upon the word 'genie', as though he had never heard it before.

Norm wondered why the mini-human said there was a case against him, and what 'session' meant. He didn't seem any containers battling him, and the very notion sounded preposterous.

* * *

Fern turned on her TV. She and Percy had enjoyed watching **Fairy Court Live - the Real Thing** when they lived in Genie World. She knew that it always showed the Court case that was going on at the current moment, and therefore had one of the most unpredictable schedules in television history.

She noticed that she had managed to catch an episode this time. The title had almost faded from the screen, but it hadn't completely. She read it, and felt frozen with shock and horror.

**The Case of Humanity vs. Norm the Genie**

What?

The title lead her to conclude that Norm had done something bad to humanity, something bad enough that Fairy World had to get involved.

She did not want to believe it, wouldn't believe it.

The last time that she saw Norm, he was a cute baby. A cute, _good _baby that she'd do anything for.

Norm was still cute, but he looked too cynical for someone his age, which was thirteen now. He also didn't seem to understand the situation at all.

Fern wondered what he'd done, and what the humans had done to him. She knew that humanity didn't intend to cause harm (mostly), but ended up doing so because of their misunderstanding of the universe. Norm obviously didn't know that, or if he did, he didn't care.

* * *

Percy had turned on his TV a few minutes before Fern, and saw Norm's confusion with the symbols. He knew exactly what his son's confusion meant. Norm did not know how to read.

He remembered his prediction that Norm's masters would reduce his intelligence. He supposed that it had come true.

* * *

"Your honor, I'd like to approach the bench," said a member of the Fairy Council.

"You can."

"Spot me."

"Norm the Genie lied to his master, saying he was the Creator that they worshipped. That action would probably mess up human society eventually."

"Human society is messed up already," muttered Norm bitterly. "Messing with it more wouldn't matter, and would probably help it anyway."

* * *

Percy was shocked. Norm was thirteen, and he already had what could mature into political views, if he ever heard of politics. At least Percy hoped they were political views, because the alternative was far worse. And if they were political views, Percy wasn't that keen on Norm becoming an anarchist, or a dictator.

He partly agreed with Norm's opinion on humanity, but wondered why it didn't occur to him that humanity could clean up it's mess-up-ness. He supposed it was related to the conflict of Trust vs. Mistrust that happened in infancy, as he had hypothesized on Norm's first birthday.

* * *

To Fern, Norm sounded corrupted. He didn't seem to realize that humans were beings with their own feelings and thoughts, and that they weren't messed up at all. She and Percy had studied the humans before they were enslaved to them, and their culture was stable, if a bit simpler than she and Percy liked. She always reminded herself of that when she began to consider tricking them, though humans were worse up close than they ever were from their stable home in Genie World.

* * *

"That's not the point," replied the judge sternly. "It's your behavior that's under discussion, not the humans'."

"Really?" asked Norm suavely. "I thought we were against each other _equally_. I'm inferior to you too? Well then, thanks for telling me. I'll be sure to avoid you guys once I'm free."

* * *

Percy slapped his forehead. Court cases weren't video game battles, or sporting events. Norm wasn't supposed to _literally _battle anyone. If he wanted to engage into the _metaphorical_ battle of law, he needed a lawyer, and a defendant. He had neither, and Percy presumed that he had never heard of either of them.

* * *

Norm did not like Court, or the "fairies" within it (he had guessed that since it was called "Fairy Court", the mini-humans actually were called "fairies.")

Even if the fairies weren't called mini-humans, Norm was sure they were just as bad. They thought that his attempt to escape his lamp was an evil crime that would mess up human society, despite the fact that the humans found nothing wrong with exploiting him.

Their society deserved to be messed up.

Norm spotted a weird square object held by one of the fairies. Many weird symbols were on it. He had learned that the weird symbols meant something. Maybe if he took something full of them, he'd discover the perfect method to escape his lamp.

GONG!

The object appeared in his hand. The fairy holding it didn't notice, and Norm attributed that to the fairy's old age.

Norm opened the object. He was correct; it was full of the weird symbols. He wondered how he'd ever learn to understand them, and hoped he would.

* * *

Zeroun watched the proceedings with distaste. Norm didn't seem to be warned at all. He just seemed to think that the Court was unfair, and that the fairies were evil. Also, he had moved his **Feeling Sensor **all around the room, and found that almost all the fairies hated the genie. He wondered if that impression would apply to any other genies, and he supposed it might.

He supposed that he had to POOF Norm and his master back to Earth. He scanned the room with his **Feeling Sensor **again. The fairies' attitudes hadn't changed a bit.

POOF!

Norm and his master appeared back on Earth. They both wondered how they had got there.

Norm groaned, knowing that his master would continue with the wishes, and definitely wouldn't set him free.


	23. Weird Symbols

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts. Thanks for the Hits, Reviews, Alerts, and Favorites!

* * *

**Chapter 22: Weird Symbols**

After leaving Fairy Court, Norm's master had quickly made his wishes.

Norm was sucked back into his lamp. He groaned, since he had practically nothing to do. Then he remembered the weird symbol object. He could try to learn how to decode the symbols while he waited for a chance to escape his lamp.

Norm hadn't looked intently at the object in Fairy Court. He didn't have much time then.

Now that he was looking at, he noticed that the outer symbols were on the side. That was confounding.

The object was small, and Norm hoped the symbols inside wouldn't be.

He grinned when he noticed the colour. It was blue like his tail, though a much softer shade.

He opened it. The symbols were small, and it wasn't just one leaf. It had tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of them. Of symbols he couldn't understand. He groaned.

He began to look at the symbols. His eyes went left to right, then right to left, looking for a pattern. He kinda saw a few, but he had no clue which one he wasn't imagining.

He wondered if he knew any of the symbols. In fact, he did. When he was in Fairy Court, a fairy had pointed out the symbols that meant that. Norm scanned the object for those symbols, and found them all over the place in the object. He grinned. He was getting somewhere!

However, Norm didn't see how that would help him understand the other symbols.

He wondered if there were any other ways to learn what individual symbols meant. He doubted that the humans would be helpful for that, since his last master was even more clueless than he was in Fairy Court.

However, his TV had symbols on it, and showed lots of them sometimes. Maybe there was something on it that would help him learn what the symbols meant.

Norm turned on it. He searched the channels for a show that showed what lots of symbols meant. First, he found one showing what had just happened in Fairy Court, then, a show that seemed to be about the night sky. Then one that wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. Next, a show set in a court that wasn't Fairy Court.

Norm groaned. Was a symbol-teaching show too much to ask for?

Apparently it was.

Eventually, after several long minutes, Norm found the type of thing that he was looking for. The show was brightly colored, and cute, and it contained the required symbol-teaching. He began to watch.

He quickly discovered that fairies, and courts weren't the only things he knew nothing about. There were computers, houses, apartment building, carburetors, printers, and other stuff that was nothing like the stuff that he knew. Fairy Court, and the human world weren't the only places in existence, despite the fact that it sometimes felt that way.

He tried to read the book again. He knew the title now:

_The Big Book of Legal Loophole Humor_

That meant it was intended to be funny. However, he had trouble understanding what anything really meant, so it was neither funny, nor educational.

Norm wondered if law shows existed, then remembered the one he had spotted while looking for a word-learning show (he had learned that the symbols were called words). He found it again, and began to watch.

However, his lack of understanding made it very boring, which Norm thought defeated the purpose. He kept watching, since he wanted to escape his lamp, and knowing legal stuff would probably be helpful in achieving that goal.

After he had learned enough legal terminology, he started replying to his masters with it. The legal terminology confused them, but they mistook it for spirit terminology, and assumed Norm meant something evil with it. However, the closest to evil that Norm meant was:

If they didn't set him free, he'd mess up their wishes in such and such way, and would even explain it in legal terminology.

However, his masters either called him an evil spirit, or did whatever wishes they were going to wish for originally.

Just like usual. He hadn't changed their behavior, though he was more capable of tricking them now, and finally escaping his lamp!


	24. Use of Words

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts. Thanks for the Hits, Reviews, Alerts, and Favorites!

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**Chapter 23: Use of Words**

Norm wondered if Fairy Court could try his masters for anything.

He knew international law probably didn't apply at all. Constitutional law, and administrative sounded equally useless. Contract law definitely wouldn't work, since he hadn't signed any contract to do this, and his masters didn't sign one to get them. They just rubbed his lamp. That was like a binding contract, but Norm didn't find it to be similar enough to work. He could use property law to say that the humans owned neither him nor his lamp, but his connection to his lamp was not legal – or at the least, he didn't believe it to be.

Labor law could work, since his masters weren't good bosses, and he needed a higher minimum wage. He needed a minimum wage, period. However, it occurred to him that such laws might not cover his unique situation.

False imprisonment sounded like it could fit. His entrapment wasn't justified, was it? He knew that he hadn't consented to it either.

However, he remembered what the other genie had told him. Humanity didn't destroy Genie World; humanity didn't entrap him in his lamp. The Darkness did. He didn't know what the Darkness was, but he was half-sure that it wasn't human. Therefore, the false imprisonment law would be useless.

Criminal law was useless too. His masters were horrible, but they didn't seem to have disobeyed Fairy World's criminal laws.

He occasionally saw mentions of a book known as _Da Rules_. It seemed to be where all the laws were officially contained, and he wondered if it would help him escape his lamp. However, according to the _Legal Loophole _book, if one weren't a fairy, _Da Rules _would be difficult to obtain. Not too difficult, but one couldn't just randomly steal a copy, like he did with the _Legal Loophole _book.

Norm wondered why he was thinking about how the laws actually worked. If he wanted to, he could make his masters believe that the laws of Fairy World worked any way that he wished them to. Why?

His masters were naïve about anything beyond where they lived. Their magic was make-believe, and ignored the magic that did exist. They mistook innocent babies for evil demons.

When he attempted to correct their errors, they refused to believe him. For them, believing something seemed to mean not modifying their views ever, even if they were blatantly incorrect.

And when they believed him, they used their new knowledge to exploit him.

Either way he'd lose, but which way did he want to play?

Just as he asked himself that, he funneled out of his lamp. Norm groaned, since funneling out of his lamp always meant that he had a new master. Well, he wasn't prepared for another master. He hadn't decided how he'd trick them, and didn't feel like spending any more time granting wishes, or trapped in his lamp.

It occurred to him that it was possible to make a plan on the fly, even if his improvised plans were failures, so were his well-researched, planned for years ones.

He looked around. His master was an adult male, like usual. He seemed to be just finished hunting, judging from the fact that he was carrying a dead animal. His master was moderately afraid, and Norm wondered whether he believed that he was an ordinary spirit, or "Norm the Malevolent Lawsuit Genie."

Yes, according to the humans, he was the genie of vindictive court cases. Completely outrageous, but when one doesn't know the meaning of the words, how can anyone make anything coherent out of them? Exactly.

Judging from humanity's usual behavior, Norm knew that if they did call him something coherent, it would be either completely accidental, or the result of lots of hitting them on the head with what he wanted them to call him.

He wished that he were the genie of vindictive court cases though. If he was, he could launch one against the humans, and gain his freedom.

However, genies weren't gods, and didn't control specific elements of world to the extreme. Instead, they granted humanity's wishes, no matter what they wanted, or why they wanted it.

"I'm Norm the Genie!" he shouted majestically, GONGing up the words in the air. Not that anyone else could read them, but hey, he could. "I have to grant your wishes. That's all I do – grant your wishes. Get it?"

His master seemed intimidated by the genie's words. Norm smiled. He knew what "words" were, and the humans didn't. He figured that could be an advantage.

"The weird symbols that you see before you: they symbolize the extent of my power," said Norm majestically.

The human gasped fearfully, and Norm smiled. His master had got it backwards. Perfect.

"I want you to wish me free," continued Norm, maintaining the haughty tone. He wanted his master to think that he, Norm the Genie, was the one in control.

"Why?" inquired the human. "Wouldn't wishes be useful to me, and my tribe?"

"Uh… yes," replied Norm, figuring that saying that wishes were useless would be one of the most blatant lies in the history of blatant lies.

"How many do I get?"

"Three," replied Norm, doubting that lying about it would be any help now. "So, what'll your first wish be?"

"I wish I knew what the weird symbols mean."

GONG!

"The extent of your power?" questioned his master smugly. "You have to grant _my_ wishes. The symbols say so."

"Alright then," groaned Norm, knowing that he'd lost. "What's your second wish?"

"I wish I was back home," replied his master.

Norm wondered why his master couldn't walk home, and use his wishes on something more useful, but he supposed that since it was a wish, he'd have to grant it.

GONG!

They appeared beside a skin tent, and Norm groaned. Humans obviously had no interest in advanced architecture.

"What'll your third wish be?"

"I wish that my tribe was blessed."

GONG!

The air shimmered, and Norm funneled back into his lamp.

Using his legal knowledge to trick his masters would be a lot better than floundering around without a plan, Norm decided. If it failed, he could just try to learn about something else, right?


	25. Failure by Misunderstanding and Belief

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Fairly Odd Parents._

**AN: **Constructive criticism welcomed, particularly on characterization. If _Losing Streak _is on a losing streak, tell me so I can fix it. This fanfic is multi-chaptered so if you got an Alert for this chapter, you should go and read it from the beginning or else it won't make any sense. In addition, I allow reviews from people without accounts. Thanks for the Hits, Reviews, Alerts, and Favorites!

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**Chapter 24: Failure by Misunderstanding and Belief **

Norm was sure that if his masters were threatened with legal action from Fairy World, they might set him free. "Fairy World" was the key term there, not "legal action."

Complex systems of justice would mean nothing to societies too simple to carry it out. Many of Fairy World's punishments for broken laws involved stuff that didn't exist in primitive societies.

Fairies would be a threat though. He knew that humanity feared the wrath of magical creatures, which they called spirits, and ascribed a different set of powers, and motives to.

Then, Norm recalled that humanity didn't know what the word "fairy" meant. Saying that they were going to get tried by Fairy Court would mean nothing to them. But, 'fairy' was an unfamiliar word, and humanity might presume that fairies were spirits, striking the fear of fairies into them.

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Norm felt a tugging sensation. Did he have to grant wishes now? He hadn't finished working out his plan yet.

He spiraled out of his lamp in a swirl of teal blue smoke. The smoke dissipated, giving him a view of the endless sand. The sand was dotted with skin tents, and fire pits. Humans were milling about. That wasn't much different from anywhere else in the human world, and Norm rolled his eyes.

His master seemed slightly scared of him, but confident too. Norm wondered why, but remembered that his last master had found out that he was under their control. Maybe they had told someone else, and that someone had just happened to rub his lamp. If so, he was in trouble now that they seemed to know. He had to escape soon, now, before his masters became even worse…

"Evil spirit, be gone!"

Maybe the human hadn't. Maybe this master was a shaman, and that was why he believed that he could handle it. Norm hoped so, since he wasn't keen on humanity knowing that he was under their control – at least not now, when they believed him to an evil spirit. Humanity would never want to set an evil spirit free, at least not if they weren't tricked or threatened.

His master's furs and trinkets were better than most of the other tribe members. All of the designs and trinkets represented the various beliefs of the tribe. Despite that, Norm did think that some of the designs and trinkets were pretty. Not better than anything he'd seen on his TV, but pretty all the same. Norm grinned since shamans dressed in exactly that manner most of the time, though tribe leaders did too, so maybe humanity did know.

He decided to stop worrying about it, and just continue with his half-formed plan.

The shaman began to attempt to exorcise him, which failed, like always. Norm knew what would actually exorcise him, but he knew that his masters probably would never do it.

Even so, he wasn't about to give up. If gave up, he probably would never escape.

"I'm Norm the Genie, and I am not an evil spirit," said Norm, GONGing up his usual sign. "I have to grant you three wishes."

His master looked at him quizzically, and he groaned. In order for his plan to work, his master had to understand, but this master didn't seem to. He decided to press on anyway, since his master could have understood, but been confused by a minor, barely related point.

However, his master interrupted him. "Three wishes? Sounds useful, though you are an evil spirit."

"No, I'm not. I'm a _genie_. G-E-N-I-E," replied Norm. "Not that you know what G, E, N and I are anyway. So, you've just got three wishes, good for you."

Norm saw that his master seemed to have noticed his sarcasm. He wasn't sure whether that would make them harder or easier to trick or wouldn't affect it at all. He decided not to worry about that until it became a problem.

"High spirits, called fairies, will penalize you, humans, for imprisoning me without justification or consent," lied Norm majestically.

"How will they do it? I never heard of fairies before."

Norm groaned, wondering why his masters always forced him to make up lies on the spot. He could answer them any way he wanted to, but that didn't mean they would believe him. Telling the truth would just equal failure, he knew.

"Magically," he improvised, since fairies were magical after all, and their laws had some basis in magic. "They're good at keeping themselves hidden."

"Why are they interfering with this?"

Norm had no reply to that. He could lie and say that they cared a lot about the welfare and treatment of other magical creatures, but he had trouble imagining himself say that with a straight face. If the humans asked for examples, he'd be stumped, since fairies were practically the only species showed on fairy TV, and when other species were showed or mentioned, particularly Anti-Fairies and Pixies, the fairies usually didn't care too much about their welfare.

"Uh, the Creator asked them to," he said, hoping that his master wouldn't question his lie.

Unfortunately, he had less luck than a human in Anti-Fairy World, and his master did question it.

"The Creator has never said anything about genies before."

Norm groaned, and thought that he agreed with the first part of the sentence. If his master had left out the last part, he would have had a revelation. Since he didn't, all his master did do is further prevent him from getting his freedom.

"Not before, but now, yes."

"That's heresy," replied his master. "The Creator sent the Darkness to destroy your world."

Norm was surprised by the ease at which the Darkness became part of their mythology. If only setting genies free could become part of it too.

"Uh, maybe he changed his mind."

"The Creator never changes his mind because he's omniscient and all-powerful," replied his master. "He can never be wrong."

Norm rolled his eyes skyward. Humans liked believing that they had strict, magical, unbending masters. Oh right, they believed that those masters were benevolent. He didn't believe in such things, and didn't want to. He had never liked being controlled by other people, regardless of how benevolent they were.

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Once he was back in his lamp, Norm knew that threatening humanity with Fairy World wouldn't work. Not here, not now, maybe not anywhere, maybe not ever. Humanity did believe in fairies; humanity believed in spirits and Creators. Humanity didn't accept other beliefs; humanity stuck firmly to their own and couldn't be dislodged, except when pressured by people whose opinion they actually cared about, and they didn't care about his opinion. To humans, strange was evil, and everything had to be adapted to fit with their own beliefs or they'd not understand. All those qualities just made humanity frustrating for Norm.

But regardless of how much failure frustrated him, he needed to continue tricking humanity if he wanted to ever succeed in gaining his freedom. Time was running out, since in a few years, he probably would never get a chance to have his childhood for even a short time if he wasn't free by then.


End file.
